Foster Care

Skills include communication and ability to work as a team. Discover the other basic skills needed to become a foster parent.

Parenting a school-aged child has its pros and cons. Here are a list of things to consider before choosing to parent a school-aged foster or adopted child.

Take a moment and share your best foster parenting tips. Do you have ideas on how to best work with social workers or birthparents? How about a quick tip on dealing with a foster child's behavior? Please share any and all ideas with other foster parents.

Do you have a plan for implementing these summer rules in your foster home? Take a moment and check on the basic summer rules for your foster care agency.

If you could share one bit of advice, something you wish you knew before you became a foster parent - what would it be?

Tips on how to best include foster kids in the kitchen and why it's a great idea.

Thoughts on when it may be time to change your foster care or adoption agency.

Information on how to write effective documentation as a foster or adoptive parent.

The little ones are very cute, but where are a few things to consider before deciding to foster or adopt a toddler or baby.

It's important to know how to properly write effective documentation as a foster or adoptive parent. Learn more about what makes effective documentation and what to leave out of your reports.

Find a few tips and ideas on how to tell a child in foster care that they are moving to a new foster home.

This foster parenting skill helps children in foster care receive needed services and is a type of 'insurance policy' for foster parents. Documentation is also a useful parenting skill to continue after a foster care adoption.

The basics of foster care found on one easy to follow page.

Here are 8 ideas of things to get done with your foster children before Christmas gets here.

Instructions on how to make a packet of information that you can send with foster children when they go on respite weekends.

The idea of a Heart Gallery has helped approximately 1000 foster children to find adoptive homes. Learn more about the Heart Gallery and how it came to be.

Free foster care printable worksheets for foster parents. It's helpful to keep track of different foster care information with printable worksheets.

How to create a handy binder to maintain all of your foster care records.

There are a number of reasons that bring children into the foster care system.

My foster parenting advice on how I choose to handle the first day of school for new foster children. How do you handle the transition into a new school?

Part of our role as foster parents is to protect a child's confidentiality. Thoughts from an experienced foster parent on what to share and not to share during a parent teacher meeting.

Five weeks of lessons to help sharpen your foster parenting skills. Topics include working as a part of a professional team in case plans, helping family reunification, understanding the grieving foster child, discipline, culture, and lifebooks.

Whether you are a foster parent, a foster child, a birth parent, or perhaps a social worker - what do you wish you could tell other foster parents? How would you finish this sentence, "I Wish Foster Parents Knew..."

Great foster parents know that being great means utilizing different child discipline techniques to manage challenging behaviors. Learn more about being a great foster parent and how to best help foster children with their behaviors through child discipline.

Before jumping into foster care, most foster parents spend two or three years just thinking about it. Here are a few points to consider before making the final decision on whether or not to become foster parents.

Things to think about before deciding whether or not you are ready to begin fostering a child.

While each state is different in the trainings offered and requirements mandated for foster homes, the starting point is basic enough that we can come up with a quick list of steps to take toward becoming a foster parent.

Being a foster parent means providing a foster child with new opportunities he may not have had the opportunity to experience without our care. To foster a child, means providing the love, encouragement and lots of nurturing.

A definition of the word foster and how it relates to foster care.

Foster parenting is a tough job, but so many of us continue to work with the children and families within the foster care system despite the challenges. What keeps you going as a foster parent? What does foster parenting mean to you? Share the good feelings that keep you going. Sometimes we all need to hear about the good stuff.

You don't have to be a foster parent to know that that there are always ways to improve upon the foster care system. It seems that no matter where we go in the world, the problems, concerns and short comings with the foster care system remain the same. So take this moment and share. No matter where you are in the world or how you play a part in the foster care system. If you could change it, w…

Great foster parents know that being great means understanding the grieving child. Learn more about being a great foster parent and how to best help foster children with their grief and loss.

So, if you are thinking about fostering, but don't know if you are ready here are 10 ideas on how to plan for a future of providing foster care.

Plan a needed break this summer with a family vacation, but should foster children go with you? Consider these points when deciding whether to include a foster child in your family vacation plans this summer.

If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently. How did you successfully include a foster child on your family vacation?

Family vacations can offer a lot of fun for you and your foster children, but many worry about including foster children in their family vacation plans. Check out this list of pros for taking your foster children with you and including them in your family vacation plans.

A list on how foster parenting can be challenging to aid others in making the decision on whether to be a foster parent or not.

PS-MAPP is just one foster parent training curriculum utilized by foster agencies to help prepare families for working with foster children and birth families.

Parenting foster children can be a challenge at any time of the year, but holidays can be extra stressful. Get 8 quick ideas of things to get done in your foster family before Christmas gets here and have time to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.

CASA volunteers or court appointed special advocates are very special people. They are everyday citizens who volunteer their time to advocate for a child. CASA are appointed by the judge to speak for an abused or neglected child in court.

Does your friend do foster care and you'd like to learn how to support him/her? Well, here is a list of 10 suggestions of what not to say or do!

A veteran foster parent shares some truths that he has come to accept after doing foster care for 17 years.

With so many children waiting for foster families - should race be an additional factor when choosing a foster home?

Foster children bring with them special challenges. Gatherings with the foster parent's extended family at the holidays add to this challenge. Here are some things to consider when planning the holidays.

What is a safety plan and why are they used within foster homes? Learn some of the reasons why foster and adoptive families implement safety plans.

How to create a safety plan when children have unsafe behaviors within your home. Learn how to keep your family safe.

The National Foster Parent Association or NFPA advocates for foster children and foster families. Learn more about this great organization.

Information on helping the youngest victims of our nations worst disaster. Learn how to obtain a foster care license in your home state to help Hurricane Katrina Children.

What do you do when your foster care children don't get along? How can you establish peace within your foster home? Here are 10 ideas to help when doing foster care.

11 easy ways for your foster care agency to maintain foster families. Concerns that are shared by many families.

A woman shares some experiences from when she lived in a group home for teens.

What a great tool for adoptive or foster parents! Keep track of your adoptive or foster baby's feeding and diaper changes. Great to feel reassured that the infant is eating enough and a wonderful teaching tool to be used between foster and birth parents. Not to mention as a log for a foster family's files.

What would make a great gift for someone who is an adoptive or foster parent? How about a birth parent? Try some of these ideas!

Foster care map of the United States. Find more information by clicking on your state.

A top ten list of choices that foster parents can make that may hurt their marriage.

Teaching your foster/adoptive child to respond to other kids' questions about being adopted or being in foster care. Teaching them how to keep things private and how not to tell too much information.

Listing of basic clothing, bedding, hygiene products, and toys for setting up a room for an older child adoption or foster care placement.

Ideas to help keep your kids busy during breaks from school. Saving your sanity and giving them something to do.

So foster care isn't for you, or at least not right now. But you really want to help foster children and be a part of the solution? There are ways you can help! Actually, I came up with 9.

The following article is a list of needs to keep in our prayers when we consider foster children, their families, and the foster families and workers that serve them.

A great article written by Sheri & Bob Stritof, Marriage Guides for About.com.

What are foster care subsidies? What does the money go for and where does it come from?

Share how you became motivated to become a foster parent or an adoptive parent.

A list of toddler toys to have on hand when taking on a foster placement for children between the ages of 1 and 3.

They may be cute, but are you sure you're ready to accept more than one baby or toddler foster placement at a time?

While you may be feeling a bunch of different emotions, you are not alone in that thinking and it doesn't matter how long ago you became a foster parent.

Ideas on how to bests plan for the first day of a foster care placement.

Being a foster parent often requires maintaining various forms of documentation. Learn more about documentation and how it relates to being a foster parent.

Most foster parents begin fostering children because they want to provide a home for a child in need, especially a child who has experienced abuse or neglect. But did you know that there is some paperwork involved with fostering? Learn more and why it's a need that shouldn't be ignored.

A few tips on surviving allegations as a foster or adoptive family.

Solid advice on how to best protect your foster family from allegations. It's not a fool proof plan, but these tips should help keep allegations from being such a constant in your life.

The beginning lesson addressing how foster homes for children utilize the skill of documentation in their homes. We discuss the whys of document ion and how a brief description of how it is helpful to foster homes for children.

Several fun reasons why parenting teenagers may be the right choice for your family.

The thought of raising teenagers is scary for most parents, but if you're going to have children, then it's logical to assume that one day they will become teens. But there are crazy, awesome, loving, brave souls out there that go and choose to raise teenagers - on purpose! These valiant parents choose to skip the cute baby and toddler stage and...